How do you guys decide which trees to climb?

Flashover604,

You and I have a lot in common. My first tree job, for pay, took place in Augusta Georgia, back in 1982. I was 20 years old and took on a part-time job as a laborer, helping a start-up tree company. I was in the Army at the time. The tree work was something I did on weekends and evenings.

Joel
 
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  • #27
HolmenTree said:
Flash you have a dozen big trees to get down safely
Pay the outfit $500 to get them on the ground. Enjoy the other 1/3 of your phone company carreer unscathed .I don't care how many planes you jumped out of.





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Click to expand...
I'd be thrilled to pay $500 for a dozen trees. This was $500 to put one tree on the ground. Then I still have 11 trees left. That's why I was looking at doing the problem tree myself, spending the $500 on gear to get said tree down AND the other 11, and have some new gear when I'm done. Now it looks like I'll spend $500 to get ONE tree down then cut the other 11 down without any other gear. That's not how I wanted to do it, but it sounds like the smartest way in the long run.
 
As the situation presents itself, lend a hand. If the guy is open to questions, ask, if not, watch silently.
 
It's a cheap trick... But, if you can put a line over your couple of 'problem' branches, and don't mind them falling free, you might be able to use one of those stupid 'rope-chain-saw' things for emergency/camping to cut them off the tree. And then fell the tree yourself once it won't snag. ?


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  • #30
Thanks Beavermonkey. I've thought of that. The limbs are six inches in diameter though. My shoulders may not agree with me! I'll see what estimates I get.
 
"Here kids: pull back and forth on theses ropes for a while and I'll give you $20... No, you'll know when you're done!"
😉

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Well Flash, I'm pretty sure we've all covered our asses telling you not to attempt a technical removal with no experience.

Now, being an adult, and a climber, and a homeowner with his own insurance, you could always invest in the gear you want, a BigShot kit, and shoot a couple lines into the hazard tree, run re-directs to a suitable anchor, tension the lines with a heavy-duty vehicle you don't like, notch it, and let her rip. Hell you might be able to just spike up to set your lines, but the slingshot would probably come in handy later. . . Ultimately it's your call man, we can't tell you to do it, but we certainly can't stop you from trying something new.

If I'd asked on my first one, they would have told me the same thing. And rightly so.

Dead trees are too dangerous, and too unpredictable to gameplan over the internet. Be careful, be thoughtful.
 
At least if we had a few pics of the trees from all angles in the yard I would donate a further 2 cents of my time.
If no interest then this thread should have ended long ago.
 
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  • #36
Grendel, if I've come across as smart-assish I apologize. I wanted advice. I got advice. I'll get another tree company to look at it. If I can't afford it, I'll move my jeep out of the way and let it fall when it falls. At this point I don't really see what other options I have. On the advice of the professionals here, I'm not going to attempt to cut the tree down. I appreciate all of the advice, constructive criticism, and sarcasm. HolmanTree, I can get some pictures if you're curious, but I don't think it will help me anymore since I'm not going to attempt the removal.
 
My company has 2 very experienced climbers well versed in doing removals without a bucket truck. We take down a lot of things that I feel most people would never climb. Just last week we removed a 70' ash tree over a fence that was as dead and crispy as can be. My climbers tie in point was around a 8" branch and it ended up breaking on him about 18" passed his rope. Pretty scary. He did have his lanyard on when it happened. The tree was obviously to untrustworthy to rig off of. We ended up making a series of well timed but risky bomb shots and then dropped the trunk as soon as we thought it could fit between the fence and house. I trust ash less and less as the years go on. Sounds like you already made your decision not to do it yourself but I thought I'd share this story anyway.
 
Yep... I've tied off to a questionable limb before, but I was aware of it and always had a second attachment if thing went south.

Excellent post, Zach!
 
It's not uncommon that I'll set a TIP, and ascend with a lanyard or second climb line tied in as a safety, only to find a major defect or issue. Having said that, it won't help if a limb breaks and lands on your head. A lot of thought has to go into an ash climb.
 
I don't know if it's the difference in species but I don't consider them especially hazardous, sure if it's been standing dead for years, but what tree isn't?
Live poplar I trust less, not telling the OP to do anything untoward, just cannot relate to this narrative of them being so treacherous.
 
We had a big one around the corner break off and fall across the road. Night in the rain a driver ran into it hard. It had a few leaves in the spring, had been in decline for years. Broke off at ground level.
 
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  • #42
It's going to become a huge problem around here. They've been dying for the last couple years and they're getting to the point where they are going to start falling. I predict a lot of free firewood in the next couple years. I'm waiting for someone to start up an ash-only business.

Kiss Your Ash Goodbye.
(You can hug it first...)
 
And hey, no worries, you didn't come off as a smart-ass. Inflection is tough on the old interwebz. . . some people are a lot better at it than I am ;)

Cheers
 
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  • #44
Grendel, I just noticed the UP. I'm assuming MI? Closest I've been is Mackinac while I was doing some Air Force work in Alpena. Wish I'd have been Scuba certified while I was there...
 
Yup, we're up here in the U.P., Northern Marquette County. I love that area, Mackinac, so much history, and the bridge never fails to amaze me.
 
Flashover604,

We don't have the EAB problem here in North Dakota yet. The dead ash trees that I take down are Green Ash (fraxinus pennsylvanica) These trees are stout at the base, but they have very weak and spindly tops. It's not possible to climb them more than about 1/2 way to the top.......or at least it would be unwise to do so.

When I take down a dead Green Ash, I generally use the tip-tie method of rigging. This is done using an arborist block mounted somewhere near the center of the tree, then tying the rigging rope to the tips of the branches by way of a running bowline set from the ground. The branches are pulled and raised to the center of the tree before breaking the hinge. At this point the branch is then slowly lowered to the ground using the port-a-wrap to control the limb as it slowly comes down.

Negative rigging is something I absolutely try to avoid when taking down dead trees. The stresses and shock loads that result from negative rigging cause me great concern. Dead wood is often not capable of supporting negative rigging forces.

Negative rigging is a science in itself. It's a good idea to know the differences between these two methods of rigging before attempting to do any rigging on your own. Generally speaking, anyone new to this field of work should learn how to do the fully controlled method of tip-tying on smaller branches before moving on to the more violent forms of negative rigging methods.

Hope this helps. It may give you something specific to study in your spare time.

Joel
 
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  • #47
I've never seen that done Candoarms. It makes sense. I'll have to see if I can find some video of it. On the Green Ash subject, here's the tallest tree I've been in. It's a Green Ash that was nice and healthy a couple years ago, but was half covered in grapevines. A group of us got permission to remove the vines since it was in a park. It was 137' tall and 14'2" around at 4.5', which I think comes out to 54" dbh. I made it to the second limb around 75'. Shaking like a poodle poopin' peach pits...http://[URL=http://s374.photobucket.com/user/flashover604/media/452F5901-64C1-4C14-A653-6D80A205CA05.png.html] [/URL]
 
Price is a consideration. Cheapest is maybe best, maybe worst. A well-advertised company may be the best, may be the worst.

Being "a professional" just means getting paid for the service. There are top notch pro, and terrible pro climbers. Be confident in the climber/ company. You don't want them to die at your house, either.

Are there other trees to set a skyline/ high-line from?
 
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  • #50
SouthSoundTree- said:
Price is a consideration. Cheapest is maybe best, maybe worst. A well-advertised company may be the best, may be the worst.

Being "a professional" just means getting paid for the service. There are top notch pro, and terrible pro climbers. Be confident in the climber/ company. You don't want them to die at your house, either.

Are there other trees to set a skyline/ high-line from?
Click to expand...

I never thought about setting up a high line. We live on a fairly steep hill, so that could be a possibility. I've got a big cherry tree that could be used on one side and a bunch of walnut, cherry and oak below that could be used. It'll be interesting to see what the guys plan on doing once they see the situation. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow, if for no other reason than discussion.
 
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